LMDA is committed to the following objectives:
1. to affirm, support and broaden the roles that literary managers and dramaturgs play in the theater;
2. to promote the exchange of information about the function, practice and value of literary management and dramaturgy both with the membership and with other theater professionals, scholars and the general public;
3. to encourage cooperation among the practitioners and theoreticians of dramaturgy, and among theater professionals and their academic counterparts;
4. to expand the boundaries of the field to include other literary and performance media and institutions.
With these goals in mind, LMDA sponsors projects designed to assist the growth of the dramaturgical professions and of theater in general. These projects are carried out by volunteers among LMDA's membership. Current programs and services LMDA members include:
LMDA Conference
LMDA members and supporters meet annually to discuss and clarify issues of national importance for our profession. Each LMDA conference is held in a different part of North America, in order to maximize LMDA's responsiveness to the diversity of its membership. See the Conferences page for details.
Regional Meetings and Symposia
LMDA's Regional Vice Presidents organize such events as membership discussions, mini-conferences and symposia on the practice and theory of dramaturgy or related subjects.
LMDA Review
The LMDA Review features essays, articles and announcements of interest to LMDA members, news of the organization and the profession, and other communications between our members. See the Publications page for details.
LMDA Script Exchange
This publication provides a network to working dramaturgs across the continent who wish to exchange scripts and recommend playwrights, plays and projects. Each issue is sent via mail to active members, and highlights recommendations from five or six dramaturgs, complete with descriptions and contact information. See the Publications page for details.
Production Diaries Project
The Production Diaries Project has gone electronic! Documents of the conception, research, planning, and realization of outstanding theater productions of LMDA members are now available in online form. See the eDiaries page for links to these production blogs. In addition to the eDiaries, you can also view the LMDA commissioned publications (See Publications).
Early Career Dramaturgs
LMDA offers an ongoing program of outreach, training, meetings and support for dramaturgs in the early stages of their craft. The program identifies and encourages new members of the profession, and works to establish them in productive professional affiliations. It also publishes a guide to dramaturgy internships and offers special events, free theater tickets (when available) and conference scholarships to eligible members. See the Early-Career Dramaturgs page for details.
National Theater Translation Fund
The fund is currently dormant, however, NTTF offers a translation source book, which can be purchased from the LMDA Store.
University Caucus
The UCaucus fosters exchange between the academic and professional theater. It publishes a listing of dramaturgy training programs and course offerings at colleges across the country, a dramaturgy bibliography and a dramaturgy teaching source book. It also sponsors an academic pre-conference at the annual LMDA conference and offers guidance to institutions thinking of setting up programs in the field.
Advocacy Caucus
This newly created program seeks to examine current working conditions of dramaturgs. The intention of the Advocacy Caucus is to build a case file that clearly documents archetypal collaborations and devise methods for improvement, i.e. creating boiler plate contracts for both staff and free-lance dramaturgs.
Email
LMDA has recently obtained e-mail ability and is devoted to being easily accessible to members and non-members on-line (lmda@lmda.org). There are several e-mail networks related to LMDA and devoted to particular areas of interest: NYMetro Network, the Canadian List, the Discussion List (created by the Univ. Caucus), and the Announcement List.
Elliot Hayes Award
See the Elliot Hayes Award page for details.